Chapter 0052 Lizardmen

The greatest advantage of possessing a chip was its vast knowledge and memory. With only a brief moment of surprise, the chip sifted through countless records of noble human etiquette and projected the most appropriate set directly into Grimm’s mind. Grimm, adopting a proper manner, bowed and then half-knelt before Mary, letting her take his hand and step onto his knee as she descended from the magic crocodile.

Mary was evidently quite pleased with Grimm’s awareness and tact, twirling lightly. Her delicate, vibrant red dress accentuated her soft, fair skin, shining white under the dim torchlight and dazzling the eye.

“The environment here is quite nice—perfect for a bath. I’ll trouble you, noble knight, to guard the perimeter,” Mary instructed, assuming the air of a proud noble lady.

“Everything as you wish.”

This kind of playful roleplay was clearly something Grimm was more adept at than Mary. After a courteous salute, he withdrew from the area around the pond, leading the magic crocodile hunter to patrol the surroundings.

They had come here to fulfill a mission, and the task location was right within the pond. Leaving Mary there, Grimm couldn’t help but begin searching for the greatest benefit of this journey.

The infamous underground caverns were renowned for producing exotic resources not found on the surface—such as ghost mushrooms.

Ghost mushrooms were white fungi, existing between the tangible and the ethereal, one of the main ingredients in invisibility potions and enchanted shadow elixirs. These mushrooms thrived in shaded places and consumed negative energy, often growing alongside spirits and specters, making them virtually invisible to ordinary folk. Only apprentice wizards with extraordinary power, like Grimm, were qualified to harvest them.

Before their departure, the wizard Angus, who assigned them the mission, had specifically mentioned this. If the apprentices managed to collect some ghost mushrooms while completing their task, Angus would purchase them at a generous price. Grimm was confident that Angus likely doubled as an alchemist.

Grimm was particularly enthusiastic about such incidental opportunities. After all, he had nearly exhausted all his resources over the past few years for this subterranean journey. At this moment, aside from some essential spellcasting materials and travel items, the sole wealth in his pouch consisted of three magic crystals.

And those crystals wouldn’t buy much of anything here.

...

As Grimm wandered farther away, Mary stepped lightly to the edge of the pond.

Deep within the pitch-black, silent underground, everything was shrouded in suffocating, oppressive darkness. Faint, concealed sounds echoed intermittently, reverberating through the twisting caverns.

An ordinary person would have already screamed in terror at the eerie, dreadful environment. Yet Mary simply wedged her torch into a crevice by the pond, humming a cheerful tune as she slipped off her thin red dress, arching her perfectly curved foot to test the water, then leapt in with a joyful cry.

Water splashed everywhere, her beautiful form shimmering and half-hidden. If not for the setting, this place would surely be a romantic, enchanting paradise.

But as Mary reveled in the water, from a distant, torchless corner of the cave’s ceiling, a pair of strange eyes opened.

Clearly, these belonged to an intelligent being, moving nimbly and filled with a hint of confusion and uncertainty.

To be honest, in this dark, blood-soaked underground world, beauty and warmth were utterly absent. Though “he” had heard from books and travelers about the peaceful, free life above, he simply did not believe it.

With the terrifying evil of human wizards and their brutal, domineering rule, how could surface humans possibly have freedom or harmony? Surely, these were lies spread by wizards to lure the weak-minded into their traps!

Holding fast to these beliefs, “he” found himself puzzled by the sight of a beautiful, naked woman suddenly appearing within his hunting grounds.

He had witnessed the cruelty of many wizard apprentices, developing an acute sense of danger toward their kind. Silently, he moved across the cave ceiling where the torchlight could not reach, slowly approaching the alluring trap.

His slender, agile body granted him agility far beyond that of ordinary people. Even on walls slick with moss, he moved freely, making no sound. Like a spider weaving its net in the darkness, he slipped along the rocky crevices, using the uneven stalagmites and stalactites as cover, silently reaching the edge of the pond.

Mary had finished her swim and was now seated cross-legged on a green stone, gently wringing out her long hair. Her cloud-like black hair cascaded over her body, obscuring the beauty of her chest—a regretful sight.

The humanoid figure in the darkness crept to where Mary had discarded her clothes, searching for any wizard’s tools or storage pouches, but found nothing.

Could she not be a wizard apprentice?

Glancing at her alluring, half-hidden figure, the creature in the darkness swallowed, his thoughts becoming restless.

Regardless of whether she was an apprentice, such a prize would surely fetch a high price in the City of Joy. Then he would no longer need to roam these suffocating underground tunnels for a living.

The one who left earlier was certainly an apprentice, capable of commanding such a fearsome puppet beast—clearly not someone he, an underground hunter, could contend with. But this woman had shown no exceptional abilities, likely just the companion or concubine of the male apprentice. If so, perhaps he could abduct her with his skills.

Having made up his mind, the shadow hid behind the green stone where the naked woman reclined, quietly opening the pouch at his waist. A palm-sized green creature crawled out and rapidly scuttled toward the naked woman, using the jagged rocks as its path.

Moments later, with a startled cry, the black shadow darted out like lightning, pressing two dull green curved blades against Mary’s neck in a swift motion.

The small green lizard released its grip, winding around Mary’s delicate body and flicking its long tongue. It had bitten deeply into her firm, rounded hip, where a small wound now oozed green liquid. Mary’s body was limp and on the verge of collapse.

The shadow had to let go of one hand to support her or she would slip into the pond.

“You’d better hold her carefully. If you break her skin any further, your fate will be very, very miserable!” A steady, deep male voice suddenly rang out, startling the shadow.

Unnoticed, Grimm had already returned, leaning against a stalactite that reached the cave ceiling, smiling as he observed the scene. Behind him, the fearsome magic crocodile hunter stepped out of the darkness, its massive size making no sound at all—an eerie sight.

This clearly exceeded the shadow’s expectations. He slid into position, curling most of his body behind Mary, holding one blade across her neck, gripping her arm with the other, presenting a classic hostage-taking stance.

What surprised him most was that the returning male apprentice showed no intention of rescuing his female companion, instead watching with the interest of a spectator.

“Her… life… is in my hands. You… mustn’t… make a move!” The shadow spoke in Salusian, different from the human common tongue, but Grimm understood perfectly. With the chip’s aid, linguistics was perhaps Grimm’s easiest subject.

Grimm leaned against the stone column, watching the scene unfold from afar.

Mary’s stunning, alluring figure in red was a feast for the eyes; he wouldn’t miss the chance to admire her openly. Moreover, the sudden appearance of this “underground creature” piqued his curiosity, drawing his attention.

“Scan complete. Matching biological type found in database. Would you like to display?”

“Display,” Grimm replied.

As the data flowed, new information appeared in Grimm’s mind regarding the creature before him.

Lizardman—one of the intelligent subterranean aberrations, possessing mixed blood of lizard and human, a mutated variant. Such creatures typically had silent stealth abilities and could regulate their body temperature, acting as assassins throughout the dark underground world.

Lizardman?

Grimm sorted through the information in his mind, quietly comparing it to the shadow before him.

The humanoid’s slender body wore no clothing, its exposed skin covered in dark green bumps and rough, hard scales. Its hand gripping the curved blade had only four fingers, with translucent webbing between them, and long, curved nails sharp as blades.

Its ugly, semi-human face had features resembling those of a human, but its skin was too dark to discern any expression. Transparent eyelids opened and closed constantly, with bulging eyes capable of focusing and shifting in any direction.

Judging by its voice, it was male—or more accurately, a male specimen.

Well, never mind such details. In any case, Grimm found the creature immediately repulsive.

Especially since it had the audacity to try to abduct Mary!

Grimm added this to his mental notes.

A lizardman like this, if not for the advantages granted by the environment, would have only the strength of a mid-level apprentice. Did he really think he could abduct the terrifying red-clad Mary?

Grimm’s face bore a half-smile, uncertain whether to mourn the creature’s luck or misfortune.

Let’s hope he won’t regret this soon.